An afternoon on the island

Oh for f&ͻ%'$ sake, blogger has done it again. I played by their rules and did all the special witchcraft and salt-tossing to upload photos and yet it uploaded them backwards (after several rounds of refusing to upload at all). All righty, I'm playing along and reporting in reverse of what I experienced. Starting at the end. Ain't this fun?

So last Saturday was a terrific planty/gardeny day. I spent the morning visiting a renowned local garden that I'd wanted to see for quite sometime. I took a lot of photos, so many that it will be awhile before I tackle going through them and editing them down for a post. Later in the day Andrew and I set out for an open garden event that we'd been invited to on Sauvie Island, Linda Wisner's garden. I always enjoy wandering her large garden and this time it was made even better because I knew friends would be there, including Tamara who had asked about bringing me plants (all I offered in return was empty pots for her to reuse). My haul included Dorycnium hirsutum (hairy canary-clover), Agave parryi ssp. neomexicana (progeny of the plants at Joy Creek Nursery which I visited every time I was at the nursery), and Mimulus aurantiacus ‘Jeff’s Tangerine’... thanks Tamara!

Now to wander Linda and her husband Chet's garden... 

In addition to fantastic sit spots like the one above, there was also a huge quantity of photographable crops; vegetables and flowers...

And then there was the tree with nails...

I asked Linda for the backstory... "That was my beloved Damson plum tree, which died of some mysterious disease. The nails went in to give the clematis I planted at its base something to grab onto. But then the clematis died. So now there's an ornamental kiwi from Windcliff that's struggling to take hold. I hope it eventually grows to cover the tree."

 Lots of buzzing and pollinating creatures moving about the garden.

Love the arching allium drumsticks...

Such a super tall gunnera, easily 5ft tall, if not more. I should have asked Andrew to stand next to it for scale.

The "old vegetable garden"...

Brassaiopsis hispida, Linda bought this from me last spring when I was selling at the Dirty Diggers plant sale.

It was so nice to see it happy and know it was living it's best life out on Sauvie Island with a real greenhouse where it would spend winter.

Courtyard tables with food and drink under the grapevines. I love this location so much!

Linda has several large potted plants in the courtyard area, this Manihot grahamii...

A couple of interesting coleus with a dwarf nectarine.

Maybe Begonia T REX® ‘First Blush’?...

Now we're out in the very shady front garden, the first area Andrew and wandered though. I think this is maybe Rhododendron sinogrande?

Plums!

Another sit-spot.

Schefflera delavayi

And the first photo I took upon our arrival at the garden.

Before the garden visit, since we were on Sauvie Island, we swung by Cistus Nursery. I missed their big Summer Extravaganza back in July, since I was in Buffalo. Tree fern! Dicksonia antarctica I assume? Everybody's doing it...

Andrew looked up to the ceiling of this corner pavilion and said "that's art"... I don't disagree.

Several large Hedera canariensis 'Sulphur Heart' for sale. I've long appreciated this plant growing out in the Cistus display garden along the driveway, but don't remember ever seeing it for sale in the nursery. 

I'm growing it under the name Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' having been lucky to receive several rooted cuttings from a friend (AI says: "Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' and Hedera canariensis 'Sulphur Heart' refer to the exact same clonal cultivar of large-leaved evergreen ivy. Botanically, it is correctly classified as Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' (Persian ivy), though it has historically been mislabeled in the nursery trade as a form of Algerian ivy (Hedera canariensis)." Take from that what you want...

Love the combo of swirly metal and serrated Melianthus leaves.

Ferns and cactus! It's a winning combination.

And finally to wrap up this backwards post; I was in awe of this multi-headed Yucca rostrata I saw at the south end of the parking lot upon our arrival. Major plant lust...

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An afternoon at Little Prince of Oregon

Mid-December I had the pleasure of visiting Little Prince of Oregon (LPO) with friends Evan Bean and Ann Amato, they're on the left in the photo below. I'm the one in the back in black, and in front of me is Alexa Patti, head grower at LPO. 

We were treated to tour time with both Alexa and Mark Leichty, Director of Business Development at LPO, with additional bonus chat time with Mike Hicks (Production Manager); and Ernie and Marietta O’Byrne of Northwest Garden Nursery, creators of the Winter Jewels Hellebores. In case you haven't heard the big news, LPO is taking over the hellebore program from the O'Byrnes. We spent a little time in one of the green houses with the Winter Jewels stock plants and there were even blooms—in December! I'm thrilled this program is in good hands and that the O'Byrnes get to enjoy retirement.

Onward! Ann is all sorts of begonia crazy so we spent some time checking out the begonias that LPO is growing. This one is 'Froggy' (yes, very fitting for a nursery with a frog logo).

Begonia chloroneura

Begonia soli-mutata

I didn't get the name of this one, but those big leathery leaves were pretty fantastic.

This is the largest of the many greenhouses at LPO, and houses many (most?) of their houseplant selections.

I've been visiting LPO for over eight years and it's been amazing to watch them grow. Their greenhouse space has at least tripled and they've gone from selling only wholesale to selling direct on their website. Walking through the nursery you definitely see their commitment to growing fabulous plants, and the people who work there all seem really happy too.

These Cryptanthus ‘Zebrinus’ and Ananas nanus 'Cathy' were in the holding area for the Little Prince of Oregon display garden at the 2024 Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in February. I can't wait to see what they come up with this year!

Pteris quadriaurita 'Tricolor'

This cool columnar planting was in one of the greenhouses that had space set aside for overwintering of employee plants.

That's also where this colorful Blechnum brasiliense was located.

Here's Evan, Ann and I with our haul, we each left with an amazing collection of LPO plants.

Here's what I got, clockwise from the fern in the upper right-hand corner: Blechnum brasiliense, Pteris quadriaurita 'Tricolor', Blechnum appendiculatum and Begonia chloroneura.

Blechnum appendiculatum is said to be hardy to Zone 8, perhaps 7. I'll be testing that as I plan to plant it out in the springtime.

The pteris will be a house plant for me, maybe vacationing outdoors in the summertime.

Same for the begonia.

But wait, there's more! Clockwise starting with the agave on the far right: Agave stricta, Ananas nanus 'Cathy', Cryptanthus zebrinus, and Hohenbergia ‘Chocolate Tiger’ (Evan got one of these too and after a little online sleuthing is referring to it as Hohenbergia correia-araujoi).

Look at that dark color and striping!

So refined and glamorous...

I'm looking forward to watching this one grow.

Spikes! I might leave this one in a container in hopes that it stays small, cause it's so darn cute!

Two big sexy bromeliads round out my haul...Neoregelia ‘Tiger’ and Aechmea fasciata ‘Primera’. 

I was pretty excited when I learned LPO was planning to offer bromeliads, everyone needs at least couple, and they're so easy to grow.

Just a little water in the cup at the center of the leaves and good light... it's that easy. Well, and don't leave them outdoors in the winter unless you're in a warm climate.

Such a fun day with plant friends and a pretty exciting haul... exactly what I needed in this cool, dark, part of the year...

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.